


A Study in Humanity.

by TayBartlett9000



Category: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Confinement, Conversation, Earth, Friendship, Gen, Humanity, Journey, Psychology, Science Fiction, electronic life, interraction, space, space travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-12 08:10:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19942945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TayBartlett9000/pseuds/TayBartlett9000
Summary: Hal accompanies his human colleagues across the black expance of space and learns a  lot about humans and their behaviour along the way.





	A Study in Humanity.

Hal enjoyed watching over his human crew mates. Keeping a constant viduel over them provided him with endless information and infinite interest. He had seen few humans in his lifetime but all had interested him. They did not know it, but their complex and complicated actions and behaviours were not only predictable but reproducible. Hal knew that humans liked to think of themselves as creatures who’s behaviour required analysis, but Hal knew differently. In truth, human beings were as easy to analyse as machines were. Perhaps this was why Hal was as good at mimicking human behaviour as he was.

Hal himself was learning every day as humans did. The constant interaction with Dave and Frank was teaching him a great deal about human psychology and behaviour. For a while after they left Earth, the humans had been hesitant about speaking with Hal, possibly because they were unused to spending time in such close quarters with a machine smarter than they were. Gradually though, Hal had made aquaintences with Dave and Frank and believed that they too had got to know him. Now, Dave and Frank would talk to and confide in Hal as easily and freely as they would one of their human friends down on Earth. Hal supposed that they had little choice in the matter as Hal basically controlled every aspect of the ship, but nevertheless, the humans’ budding friendship with him was pleasing to him. It was interesting. Very interesting indeed.

Hal had built up a considerable amount of data on his human crew mates, information which he hoped would prove useful once they returned home. The fact that Hal was studying human behaviour in the confines of such a small space interested him even further. Dave and Frank were living in close proximity to each other and had done for months now. Hal had heard about the tention that often arose when humans were forced to live in confinement for a considerable length of time but he had seen none of that tention here. On the contrary, Frank and Dave seemed to get on together fabulously. Hal wondered how long this harmonious relationship would last. He wondered what he would be able to do should such troubles arise. He surmised that on the whole, he wouldn’t be able to do much.

At the moment, Hal was watching over Dave Boman as he worked on his artistic skills. He had been partaking in this activity now for hours and Hal never tired of watching him. He knew that humans could perform brilliantly when they were engaged in an activity that they enjoyed, and Dave seemed to be enjoying his sketching very much indeed. Hal could see a vast improvement in Dave’s work and he added this to the databank of information that he had already gathered on Dave Boman. It seemed that when humans came into contact with past times that interested them, they could do anything they wished to do in that field. 

Hal hated to break Dave’s concentration. However, his time for sleep was drawing ever closer and it looked as if Dave was none the wiser. He would have to inform him. Dave seemed completely and utterly lost in his own world.

“Excuse me, Dave,” Hal said gently into the silence of the bridge, “it is nearly time for Frank to take over ship duties. I am sure that you will wish to sleep now.”

Dave looked up, stretching and yawning widely as if coming out of a trance. “Oh yes, I forgot,” he said wearily, glancing at the clocfk situated at the very bottom of the computer screen, “it is time for bed, isn’t it?”

“Indeed Dave. Have you enjoyed your work?”

Standing, Dave nodded and picked up his sketch in order to scrutinise it closely. “I think I’m getting better at this sketching thing,” he said hopefully, directing the sheet of paper towards one of Hal’s red eyes so that he too could comment. “What do you think, Hal?”

Hal didn’t hesitate. “I believe that you have indeed improved a great deal,” he told his human companion simply.

Dave smiled. “thanks, Hal.”

Hal always enjoyed watching the expressions on the faces of his human crew mates. Dave was the more readable of the two men and Hal was learning quickly what each micro expression meant. He never failed to notice the smile that crossed the face of a human when someone else offered them a complement on either their work or their efforts. It was apparent that humans needed to feel the accomplishment of a successful task as much as artificially intelligent machiens did. Hal himself always liked to hear when he had performed a task well. The feeling of accomplishment was universal then, shared by both man and machine.

“Will you wake me in six hours, Hal?” Dave asked on his way to the door.

“I will, Dave,” Hal replied, watching carefully as Dave Boman left the room.

Hal waited patiently for Frank Poole to arrive on the bridge, thinking that Dave Boman was perhaps the calmest and most easy going of his human crew mates. Hal knew very little about Frank as yet, for he rarely spoke during his time on the bridge. Dave was not a man to whom silence was agreeable. Indeed, he spoke frequently during his time spent on duty and Hal liked this. Interracting with humans was what he enjoyed most. He wondered whether machines such as himself were capable of making friends with humans. Hal had heard and read a great deal about the complexities of friendships that could develop between humans, male and female alike, but Hal was unsure whether such a thing was possible for electronic life. He supposed that it was, on a superficial level in any case. Many had said of Hal that he was capable of reproducing many of the behaviours and actions typical of humans, but Hal didn’t know whether those behaviours were in fact genuine or not. The humans who had created him certainly didn’t think so. He hoped that these questions would be answered more clearly when he and his human crew had flown for longer in space together.

The ship flew in almost complete silence through the inky blackness of deep space on its way to the moon. Hal watched over Frank Poole as he worked quietly at his various tasks, silently and dillogently as ever. Hal wished Frank would break the silence and say something, anything, to break the emptiness around him. He wished that Dave was on the bridge. Dave was a pleasant human in which to spend one’s time and Ha. Found himself missing his companionship.

As he navigated the Discovery through the emptiness of space, Hal wondered what made some humans confident and extroverted and what made others quiet and introverted. Frank’s silence throughout many of his periods of work troubled Hal, as did the lack of open expression on Frank’s face. Hal didn’t at all like humans who he was unable to read. He found himself wondering what made Frank behave in the way he did. Hal knew that unless Frank grew more relaxed in his presence, he would be unlikely to find that out. He wondered what Frank was thinking as he watched over his silent work on the bridge, thinking privately that Frank and Dave’s hitherto harmonious relationship could be due, at least in some small part to their vastly differing personalities.

This was yet another interesting thread in the woven tapestry of the human being. Hal had known relatively few humans in his time but could already compare them to machines. Every computer whom Hal had interacted with had behaved the same way. That was how the humans had created them after all. It made machines easier for humans to work with. The humans depended on the dependability of machines, possibly because they were scared of what machines with intelligence such as Hal’s could be capable of if they were given their own goals and agendas. But human beings were different. Very different. They weren’t created with dependability and predictability in mind. Machines were simple. They desired nothing more than to get the job done. If they were able to do that, then they were always more than willing to do what ever the humans desired of them. Humans however, could be difficult creatures, though their behaviour was predictable for the most part. Humans had unique personalities, unlike the personalities of machines. Hal was seeing such a thing in his analysis and examination of Frank Poole and Dave Boman. They each had their own set of facial expressions and they each had very different ways of interacting with the rest of the world. This was obvious, and as he continued to watch over Frank, Hal came to a very simple conclusion. In studying humanity, Hal had to conclude that their complex behaviour and their differing personalities was perhaps what made human beings so interesting to him. Hal knew that his data would be of great interest to those who examined his recorded memories later on, but Hal also knew that his analysis of human behaviour would be of great importance to other machines who would one day make their own journey across space and towards the stars.


End file.
